Tina: Ender's Game fan fiction
by Fantasia Komix
Summary: Tina was a little girl who was in Ender's class since preschool, eventually following him to Battle School. Rated T for violence. (Since the children in Battle School were essentially thrown into a lifetime of conflict, and some (including Ender) suffered from PTSD as a result of it, that might be the path it takes) There will probably not be any romance. Please r&r.
1. Prologue

Disclaimer: I do not own any of Orson Scott Card's works; Ender's Game is one of his works, not mine. I do, however, own the OCs that I introduce into the Ender universe.

I hope you enjoy this fan-fiction.

Prologue

"Papa! Mama! Where are you? Come back" The little girl cried as she ran around the barren trees towards her vanishing parents. The faster she pumped her chubby little legs, the farther away they grew, forever out of her reach, forever away from her grasp.

 _Mama fading, as distant as the look on her face, as though she were unsure of the right way to live. Papa, flickering, like a flame weakened by the wind._

She tripped in a hole, and fell, and felt a lightning-bolt of pain shoot up her leg and into her heart. She cried silently, but it was not in reaction to the sickening snap she heard as she fell; she cried because she let down her parents, because she couldn't reach them in time.

 _Mama and Papa, I failed them, I let them down, like I always do here._

She tried to stand, but her leg was too weak, because she was broken. She curled around her leg, rocking and sobbing. "Papa. Mama. Aaron. Rosa," she whispered, tears running down her face, distorting her vision.

 _Aaron, all that remains are his footsteps, his stride too large for me to hope to match. Rosa, I let down Rosa, and I can only see the breath that she left behind._

Darkness was looming around her, hands threatening to pull her farther down into the abyss that was her pain and sorrow, the horrors and monsters that lurked in the dark corners of her mind.

 _No. No. Not again, not this, not the mental break. I can fix this, I_ _ **need**_ _to save them._

Right then, she felt a wisp of air blow past her, smelling of home. She looked up and saw her family, the tears vanishing from her eyes, chased away by hope.

She ran towards them and embraced them, the pain in her leg forgotten for the moment.

But they weren't her family. They had their faces, they had their bodies, they had their clothes, they had their smiles, but it wasn't her family. For the eyes were blank and devoid of emotion, just like the last two times.

 _Why._

She backed away, then heard her name. It was from behind her, being called in fear, of what she didn't know.

She turned around, desperate to find them, desperate to end the nightmare.

Her parents' faces were filled with fear, of what she didn't know. Then she realized what it was: it was of **her**.

She looked down and saw blood dripping from her clawed hands, the corpses of her older siblings in front of her. She turned around and saw the fake family running towards her.

She jumped, wishing for it all to end, but the fake family ran past and merged with the people in front of her.

The people turned into a large bluebird, which started to fly away. She tried to catch it, running faster and longer than she ever did before. But she failed. The bird flew away, leaving her alone with the bodies and her own thoughts.

"Chirp."

She turned around, her eyes wide with heartache, hoping for the best, looking for the family that left her for the monster that she was. The bird was there, its back to her. She reached out to touch it, to say sorry.

Mama, Papa, please come back. And Aaron, Rosa, I am-"

The bird turned around and viciously attacked her, leaving her bleeding and broken on the hard, frozen ground. The damage was such that bone and veins were cut, guaranteeing her a messy and painful death.

Unable to do anything else, the little girl curled up into a ball, waiting for death to take her.


	2. Chapter 1: The Early Test

Tina woke up on the edge of her bed, curled into a ball, the taste of blood in her mouth from a cut in her lip. This was the third time she woke up in this fetal position, the third time she had the dream this week.

She shook her head, trying to stop counting, but the counting continued. The third time she dreamt of birds. The third time she dreamt of death.

She bit her tongue, wincing at the pain, but her brain supplied two more statements. The third time she dreamt of abandonment. The third time she dreamt of blood on her hands.

Finally, her brain fell silent, satisfied with its work, satisfied with the pain it inflicted on its host. Tina sometimes hated her brain, though it was the only reason why she was born in the first place. It was too perceptive, too cold, too heartless.

The two-year-old noted the time: 5:30 AM. Perfect timing. She climbed out of bed and hurriedly put on clothes suitable for the occasion: a pair of underwear, a pair of denim shorts she altered to fit as pants, a blue flannel shirt her size, a blue hairband, a pair of white socks, and her black flats.

It was the first day of preschool, a first that she hasn't had any information about, asides from the obvious fact that it is a predecessor to "real" school, hence the prefix "pre" in front of the word "school."

As she packed her little black backpack, Tina wondered if it would be different than the other experiences she had with "firsts." _Perhaps_ , she mused. _Perhaps it will be, perhaps it won't._

* * *

Tina started walking to the building where the "preschool" was kept, having looked its location and schedule up the day before; her siblings had their own school to go to, she was too young for the bus, and her parents trusted her to make it safely. Just in case, she packed her reed-making kit in her backpack and carried her little portable umbrella in her hand.

When she got to the school, Tina was greeted by a stuffy-looking lady. She noted that the woman wore a grey blouse and a black pair of slacks, practical attire. Tina also noticed that the woman didn't look too particularly happy or glum, she just was. The lady seemed to be of average intelligence, which is more than some can say, so that is okay.

 _I wonder what we'll learn in class today? I mean, that is what school is for, learning subjects and information that will later help in life. Or at least that's what all of the descriptions I found said about school. I wonder if we'll learn Mathematics, or to use a text to write an essay. I should probably-_

"Where's your mother, sweetie?" Tina looked up at the woman, and wondered as to why the lady was speaking with that ridiculous falsetto voice.

"She is at work, Miss Jonah, so I walked myself here. My name is Tina Martik, age two years, first day of preschool, and I would like to begin my education. You'll find that all of the paperwork has already been filled out and turned in. I would like to see what a school is like."

The woman immediately changed her tone, "Well, darling, you hardly look old enough to walk yourself here. I won't ask about how you know my name, for you seem intelligent enough to have looked it up beforehand. I'll also not ask any more questions until later, for I don't want to keep you waiting on one of your firsts. That would be detrimental to both of us."

Tina was impressed with the lady's take on the situation, and chalked it up to an underestimation of the woman's intelligence.

Right as she began thinking about what else she might have underestimated, Tina realized that Miss Jonah was walking away at a brisk pace, and hurried to catch up, her little legs going three-and-a-half times the speed of the woman's yet not covering exactly the same distance.

Annoying how height does that, but it can't be helped.

* * *

We walked through the hallways, the light-blue walls decorated by posters the teachers brought in, until we got to the attendance office. Miss Jonah checked me in; however, instead of being led back to one of the classrooms, the lady behind the desk gestured for me to come with her.

We went into a small room that was located inside the office, the only furniture in there being a small desk, a little chair, and an adult-sized chair. The lady motioned me towards the miniature desk, on which there was an iPad-shaped device, an answer sheet, and a pencil. _It can't really be an iPad now, could it? I mean, it had been out of date since Juke Limited put out the Glass Desk© more than 105 years ago._

I sat down, unsure of anything beyond that I was about to fill out an answer sheet; the answer sheet indicated that I was about to take a test, but the purpose was, as of yet, a mystery.

The lady picked up the device and logged in, it being tilted so that I couldn't see the screen. She set it down, and I saw a bunch of shapes.

The lady finally spoke. "Name, Martik, Tina. Age, two years. Test, Intelligence Quality Assessment. Purpose, Classified. Preschool, Rackham p-5. Are you ready to take the test, Ms. Martik?"

"Yes." I felt embarrassed at my small voice, though it was to be expected, being a two-year-old and all.

"The test has four parts: patterns, mathematics, reading and analyzing a text, and personality. Each part has a multiple-choice and a short response section and you are not going to use a calculator on the mathematics portion. Raise your hand if you have a question about the requirements or need something, the choices being either a sharpened pencil, a tissue, or another scratch piece of paper. If you leave the room during a testing period, whatever you finished of the test will be taken up and scored, and you won't be allowed to resume the test. Restroom, water, and snack breaks will only occur between parts. Cheating is prohibited, and your test will automatically be scored as a zero, your test starts now."

* * *

Four hours and one-thousand, four hundred, and eighty-eight questions later, Tina clicked the last question, pressed the button that said, "Test Finished," and raised her hand.

The lady picked up the Desk and signed off, signaling the official end of the test. She looked up the scores, did the mathematics, and told Tina, "Congratulations, Ms. Martik, you completed the test and got into the program. I will take you to your class shortly."

* * *

Yep, left it off at a semi-cliffhanger. I hope you enjoyed this chapter. No views yet, but it doesn't hurt to be hopeful. The test isn't for Battle School, and I pulled the corporation's name from Swarm by Orson Scott Card.

I do not own any of Orson Scott Card's books or characters, but I do own Tina Martik, Miss Jonah, and the lady in the attendance office who was in charge of the test. I will not say why Tina needed to take a test...from her point of view. But I will hint at it through POVs set at that of the adults'.


	3. Chapter 2

They took me to the nurse's office, where they told me to lie down on the cot and strap something to my face; it looked like an oxygen mask, but I suspected that it was a gaseous sedative.

I complied anyway and, making sure that I was firmly in place on the cot, breathed in.

It smelled like oxygen with a slight bitter undernote. After I breathed in a couple times, my lungs burning, my vision grew blurry and, after a few more breaths, it went black.

* * *

When she woke up, Tina noticed a pain-no, not pain, severe numbness- in her neck. Her hand ran down from the back of her head to the base of her skull, trying to rub sensation back into it, then froze.

There was a cold, metallic object on the back of her neck, shaped roughly like a rectangle. _Wait._ It wasn't on her neck, it was _in_ her neck. Her eyes grew wide at the information.

Tina brought down her hand, noticing how it shook from the shock of discovering an alien object in her neck. Her hand was still shaking, so she seized the wrist, strangling it until it stilled.

 _Okay…how in the world did this get into my neck?! I thought I was here for a checkup, not for an installment. This is an invasion of my personal space. This MUST be illegal._

She quickly scanned her own memories and confirmed her suspicion.

She looked up and finally noticed a man in the room. His hair was a light blond, slightly graying, with a buzzcut; he was also wearing an IFF uniform with a number of pins, probably ranking and awards, with a label over his heart. Tina examined the pin, seeing a ranking and a name: LTC Graff.

 _Lieutenant Colonel._

This confused her even more, for she couldn't think of why she would be visited by a member of the IFF, rank five no less.

The man observed her with his cobalt-blue eyes, studying her scrutiny and surprise with only a hint of amusement, mostly with solemnity. He finally opened his mouth, speaking with an even tone.

"Martik, welcome to the program. We installed a Monitor in your neck, which is connected to your central nervous system and the brain stem. This will allow us to see what you see, hear what you hear, and detect what you think."

With more than an ounce of trepidation, she thought for a moment.

Finally, she asked, cold calculation barely showing through her voice, "What is the purpose of the program, and weshalb-WHY do you need to install the Monitor? I am certain that implanting an object in a person's body without their permission is illegal unless it is important for neutralizing a threat to the planet's survival, and the only present threat of that magnitude currently is the possibility of invasion from the Formics; I do not see the benefit from installing a device into the body of a child."

I had accidentally slipped into German at the beginning, showing weakness. I cursed myself and my bilingual status for but a moment, but I didn't let it show.

He answered with the same steady voice as before with, "Well, your parents enlisted you into our program, which is dedicated to training future soldiers; we do not need your permission, only your guardians'. As for why, since children start developing their personalities at the age of one, we put the Monitor on as soon as their bodies are able to accept it, at the age of two; we'll only take you up if you fit the requirements, and if you don't, we'll remove the Monitor."

"So I only gain privacy if I fail to fit your narrow list of traits, which probably fits those of a popular leader rather than an effective one?"

"No, it is for a different purpose."

Tina felt anger coursing through her veins, but she bottled it up, sending to the dark places in her mind, where even she doesn't dwell or explore. In its place, she felt a cold calm set in, stabilizing her mood enough to think straightly.

She calmly said, with a slight clip in her voice, "Pardon me, sir, but I have to get to class. I do not want to have a discrepancy in my education for IF I fit your requirements. Have a nice day."

At that note, Tina jumped down from the cot, wincing as the pressure sent a shock wave up her leg; she still felt phantom pain from her dream. She walked over to the door, where the nurse was waiting.

"I will take you to your class now, little girl. Your teacher's name is Mr. Jacobi. I hope you enjoy your day," the woman said with a monotone voice, clearly not meaning what she said.

Tina came anyway, hoping that class would be better than what just occurred.

* * *

"Hello, class. This is our new student, Tina Martik."

The class murmured as the teacher spoke, no doubt wondering why she came in late to class on the first day of school. Or perhaps they're just wondering who she was.

All except one. There was a black-haired boy sitting silently in the back row. He didn't smile or frown, he just watched the new girl with a steel-sharp gaze, his ice-blue eyes gazing into her brown ones.

The new girl looked back, her cool gaze asking if there was a problem. The boy barely moved his shoulders, a tiny shrug, unnoticed by all except her. She slightly cocked her right eyebrow then moved it back into place, obviously testing his observation skills.

He watched her, then did so as well, his eyes not wavering as he watched her, filled with a strange curiosity. He rubbed his neck, and she did so as well, her hands catching in her dark brown hair, and he wondered if she had the operation as well. It wouldn't have surprised him, for she looked intelligent enough.

As though she was thinking the same thing, the girl narrowed her gaze, but it wasn't in aggression; it was with scrutiny, and her gaze looked at his neck, looking for the Monitor. He barely nodded, and her gaze lightened, seemingly relieved, yet she was still guarded.

The boy and the girl both thought the same thing. _Looks like I'm not the only one._

* * *

The teacher directed me to the desk beside the blue-eyed boy, telling me to sit down. _Well, what else would I do with a desk, eat it?_

But I am too curious about the boy beside me to acknowledge the slight condescension in the teacher's voice, which faltered when he saw the Monitor on my neck.

The teacher gave me some work that was focused on learning the school rules, which I thought were pretty obvious.

 _Wow, no biting or taking drugs? Huh, I'm not allowed to bring a weapon to school and threaten people with_ it? I rolled my eyes.

 _They must think of us as idiotic two-year-old cretins; oh, well, they are a third correct, at least._

I started on the work right away, carefully bubbling in the correct answers after printing my name, determined to make a good impression. I didn't notice the sudden silence, for I was focused on the activity at hand, which wasn't that difficult to be honest; I even looked for possible trick questions, but, of course, I didn't find any.

I stood up to turn it in, and finally noticed the stares of the kids around me. The teacher cleared his throat, then said, "Tina, I'm in the process of explaining the directions. Please wait until I'm finished speaking before asking any questions."

* * *

The girl beside me cleared her throat, wincing as the pressure pressed against the Monitor, then said, "Excuse me, sir, but I was just getting up to turn in the test."

The teacher blinked, much to my amusement, then said, "Well, you were supposed to wait until I read the questions to the class. Guessing on the test won't warrant good results."

"Sir, I didn't guess, I just read the questions and the answers on the sheet you gave me and bubbled in the answers. The activity was pretty straight forward, so I just want to know when I could take the test."

"That was the test, Martik, but I have to ask you to put off turning it in until I am finished telling the class what to do. While I do so, check over the answers and make sure that you are certain that they are correct."

Martik, Tina, sat down, not even fazed it seemed, and I noticed that her eyes didn't glance at the paper. Instead, she pulled out a little notebook and started writing down something.

I smiled, glad that I wasn't the only intelligent one in the class.

 _Or maybe she's arrogant._

 _No, she's smart, and she knows it_ , I told myself.

 _I hope she's not another Peter. For now, I'll just be relieved that I'm not alone._

* * *

 **The student you brought us has proven to have potential, but we need to keep an eye on her. We don't know where she sent that anger, and neither does she, it seems; that could become an issue later on, but for now, she's still in. For now.**

 **If she indeed poses a threat, let's make sure that it's directed at the Formics. She is intelligent for a small child.**

 **Well, intelligence and potential is nothing to us without the correct personality. Watch her carefully, Lieutenant, and tell us immediately if she fails.**

 **Don't worry, sir, she won't.**

 **Don't be so sure. A lot can happen in four years.**

 **I am betting our lives on her and the boy.**

 **Let us all hope that it is a royal flush.**


End file.
